You can't climb until you know where you are!

In the introduction to my book, My Judo Life, Cody is sitting and visiting with some folks at a sales and business development seminar. They begin talking about how they each succeed in sales. The statement is made to a young energy drink salesman that it is just as critical to acknowledge what could potentially keep you from succeeding as it is to be aware of his gifts in selling. The point that is being made is that he needs to understand where he is actually starting from before he can have a true plan for where he is going.

Our weaknesses are as much a part of us as our strengths are. Whether you are intimidated by picking up the phone or nervous about making a presentation, or you don't know how to put together a proposal, knowing what the challenge is makes it possible to solve the challenge. If you don't acknowledge that you need to grow in an area, then you won't. The truth for all of us is that we have things that we need help with. The key is to recognize what those things are and seek out ways to grow and develop in those areas.

For example, when I first started into this business, I was used to raising money for a non-profit. I was not afraid to ask for money. I was not that gifted at the follow-up though. So, I got someone to coach and train me in that area. I was taught what increments to use as a follow-up plan. I was taught to gauge what a client would be needing based on what was being done for them. I learned. There will never be a time in my life when I no longer need to learn. There will never be a time when I know it all. By getting an external perspective, a coach, I was able to see things from a new angle.

Just like the young energy drink salesman in my book who needed to recognize that he still had more to learn, each of us is in that same position. What I would encourage you to do is to take a look at yourself and identify two things that could hold you back from succeeding at the level that you would like to succeed. Do you procrastinate? Are you afraid of closing sales? Do you avoid conflict when you need to face it? Do you throw temper tantrums at work? We all have a few things that need to change. What are yours?

Next, identify a book you can read, a seminar you can attend, and a person that you can talk to that will help. One exposure to the right information rarely makes the change that you need. You will often need to have multiple exposures to the right information and in different formats for your mind to fully absorb the information. Find book, attend a seminar or training, and talk to someone who will help to hold you accountable. That is my challenge to you.

Go out and make today a great day and grab on to the success that you desire!

To Your Success!


Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
806-355-5567 office
jody@murfsystems.com
www.murfsystems.com


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F.U.N. - Future Thinking Now

We plan in the future but think in the present.  This is one of the fundamental problems with the mind accepting goals as legitimate.  If we are not able to think in the future tense, then mapping out future plans without regard for the way we think is unlikely to work well.  The key difference is that we must be able to visualize what our future will be while thinking in the present.

This is not actually as hard as it sounds.  It is a matter of the way that you present it to your mind.  The subconscious will accept whatever input it is given.  It records and acts. It is not the judging portion of the mind.  This means that when you set goals, you need to write them out as if they have already happened and you are celebrating that success.

Simply write down the date in which you will have already achieved the goals that you have for yourself and then write out a detailed description of what it is like to have achieved those goals.  Then, when you begin to take action, you simply remember what you already did to get there.  In your description, you need to have detailed the work that you put into your success, how it feels to have succeeded, and what the net outcome looks like.

Don't complicate things, simply explain how great it was to achieve what you got.


Jody Holland
www.jodynholland.com
806-355-5567 office
jodynholland@gmail.com

What if today was the day? - Steve Jobs

In 2005, 1 year after Steve Jobs had been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer, he addressed the graduating class at Stanford.  I watched a video of the speech tonight, thinking about the life that he lived and the difference that he made in my life.  He told three stories about his life.  He talked about his birth and subsequent adoption.  He talked about his education, dropping out, and dropping in.  And then, he talked about his businesses.  The thing that stuck with me most was his ability to keep perspective throughout everything that he dealt with.  Admittedly, I chuckled a little when he told the graduating class that he thought he was being crazy when he tried to go to a college that cost almost as much as Stanford and just could not justify a return on the investment.  The perspective that he kept was that you have to have passion in your life, and you have keep moving forward.

He was adopted, but by a backup set of parents.  The first set changed their minds about him because they wanted a girl.  He dropped out of college after six months, and then began attending the classes that interested him simply to learn, not to attain a degree.  He never earned a college degree.  He founded Apple with a friend, in his parents garage, at the age of 20.  He had a multi-billion dollar company by the age of 30, with 4000 employees.  He was fired from Apple, the company he started, very publicly.  This lead to him starting "Next" and "Pixar."  Those were purchased by Apple and he was brought back in.  After being fired from Apple, he met and fell in love with his wife and had a wonderful family.

He was passionate about each of the things that he did in his life.  He asked himself the question daily for most of his adult life, "If I were to die at the end of today, would I have done what I was supposed to do?"  When you have the perspective of knowing that you are going to die, you strip away the inessentials and focus on living.  You realize that you have nothing to lose really.  Stuff is just stuff.  A business is just a business.  What matters the most is that you are doing what you were made to do.

This sticks with me because you realize that Steve Jobs made a lot of money as a result of doing what he was made to do.  He did not set out to make a lot of money.  He set out to do what he was made to do.  Career Builder says that two-thirds of people work in jobs that they hate.  They are not doing what they were made to do.  They are doing what they thought someone else would approve of them doing or what they believed to be acceptable.  Those are the folks that are not truly fulfilled or happy.  I am not sure about you, but at the end of my life, I want to be able to look back and KNOW that I did what I was supposed to do.  After all, if you live your life as if today could be your last day... some day you will be right.

Find your calling!
Find your passion!
Live your life!


To your success,


Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
www.jodynholland.com - Blog
www.murfsystems.com - site
jody@murfsystems.com - email


Don't forget to check out our Leadership Series at www.murfsystems.com, then click the Leadership Series Icon